A Toddler In The Tardis
by iloveamypondxx
Summary: River and The Doctor's daughter Athena is now a toddler and decides to get herself into quite a bit of trouble.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Athena ran swiftly away from her frustrated father. She had his sonic screwdriver clasped in her chubby hand. Giggling, she waved it in the air at him.

"Athena, this isn't funny any more. Daddy needs his sonic back."

Athena stopped and blew a raspberry at her dad before running off again, her golden curls streaming out behind her. She wasn't looking where she was going and ran head first into her mother's leg and was picked up off the floor.

"Mumah! Look what I've got!" she said, triumphantly waving the screwdriver in the air.

River laughed at her excitable daughter as the Doctor swooped in and plucked Athena from her arms.

"Gotcha!" he shouted gleefully. "Here comes the tickle monster!"

The Doctor ticked his daughter until she dropped the sonic, squealing and flailing about happily. It was only when the Doctor put the screwdriver safely in his inside jacket pocket that she realised she didn't have it any more and started crying.

"Oh no Athena! Don't cry! It's only a silly old screwdriver!"

But however much her father tried to persuade her, she wouldn't stop crying.

"Oh." The Doctor said. "I think I have an idea."

He started walking down the corridor, avoiding his daughter's flailing was a small cupboard in the wall. The Doctor opened it and took out another screwdriver. It was old and glowed blue at the tip rather than green and was thinner than the Doctor's newest model. He handed it to Athena, She stopped crying immediately and made a happy squeaking noise. River looked a bit nervous.

"Are you sure you want to give her that?" she asked.

"Definitely. It doesn't work all that well but it's enough to keep her happy. She can keep it and repair it for herself when she's older."

"Ok then." said River, still not convinced. Sometimes, her husband could be quite reckless.

Athena started kicking her legs and wriggling to signal that she wanted to get down from her father's arms. He placed her on the floor and she smiled up at her parents before running off round the corner, squealing with delight.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

River jolted awake with a start. She immediately knew what had woken her. The sound of her baby's scream reached her ears. Usually she wouldn't be phased by Athena screaming, she would go and give her a hug if she'd had a nightmare. But this time was different. This time, River realised, the nightmare was real. The sound of the screams proved it. Usually she would just hear a scared scream, this time it was a agonised wail of horror. River shouted at her husband as she jumped up and grabbed her gun from where she always kept on the bedside table.

Ever since Athena was born she had been worried about something like this. She was a time lord, she wasn't safe and never would be. River was shaken to the core as she ran down the corridor to Athena's room. She was aware of a faint sound of crackling electricity. That must mean it was the silence. River's heart was pounding. She'd promised herself that she wouldn't let Athena go to the silence, Madame Kovarian had kidnapped her but she would never let her daughter be taken. She burst through the door and was completely horrified to find five of the silence all standing around the the small bed that Athena was crawling down, trying to escape the monster's long fingers as he bent over to pick her up. She was screaming and crying as she did.

"Mummy!" she screamed, sobbing as they closed in on her.

Two of the silence turned on River and started towards her. For a moment, she was frozen with terror. The last time they had come for her was a very long time ago, but she still hadn't forgotten and never would, however much she wanted to. After composing herself River promptly shot all five and left them dead on the floor, their long limbs flopping haphazardly onto the carpet. She threw the gun across the room and ran to the bed. She scooped a sobbing Athena up and leant against the wall to steady herself but ended up sliding down the wall and crumpling into a heap on the floor with Athena, crying and shaking, clutching her daughter to her chest. This meant that they were going to have to guard Athena closely from now on. Kovarian knew about her and was trying to get her. Trying to kidnap her so she could finish the task that her mother had failed to complete. She would be forced to kill her own father and River would never, ever that that happen. River remembered her own days of imprisonment well. She had never known what was going to happen, she had been afraid to sleep at night and hardly ever closed her eyes. She only felt safe sleeping with the Doctor, on the TARDIS. That was the only place she felt truly safe. In prison she would stay awake until she really had to sleep. She remembered the spacesuit, and being guarded by the silence wherever she went. She remembered breaking out, ending up dying of starvation and illness and regenerating. She never wanted Athena to go through that. River already knew that Kovarian and the silence wouldn't give up, but neither would she. River felt so cold, sitting on the floor sobbing and clutching her daughter, rocking backwards and forwards. She was letting her terror rule her and completely control her. That was one thing she never did if she could help it but the silence held a special kind of terror for her. She was only calmed when the Doctor placed a warm hand on her shoulder and then, asking no questions about what had happened, pulled them both into a hug and wrapped him arms around both his wife and his daughter. When River had stopped crying the Doctor cautiously checked Athena over with the sonic. No injuries. Not the flesh. Completely unharmed. He got River to stop shaking and stand up. He took Athena from her and they went back to their bedroom together. The Doctor got River to lie down and he slid into bed next to her with Athena in the middle. He gave them both a kiss goodnight and they all went to sleep together, keeping each other safe. Athena slept in her parents' arms all that night, none of them ever letting go.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

River awoke as she heard a soft 'flump' sound from above the little nest she'd made for herself under the duvet. The something that had made the noise ending up landing right on her chest.

"Mumah!" called her daughter, who was happily bouncing up and down on top of her.

"Mmmm..." she mumbled sleepily. "Hello sweetie."

Athena jumped again.

"Oof." 'flump' "Stop, oof, bouncing, ouch, on me, aghh."

River sat up and lifted her daughter into the air. Her tiny legs wiggled about, trying, and failing to find a surface to stand on. Athena squealed in delight as she was gently thrown through the air onto the soft cushions at the end of the bed. Her cute golden curls bounced around her head as she giggled and squealed, emerging from the folds of the huge pile of squishy cushions. The Doctor scooped her up and tickled her before giving her a cuddle.

"So Athena, do you want to do something really fun today?" he asked.

"Yes yes yes!" she shouted.

"I had a feeling you'd say that! What do you want to do?"

"Theme park theme park!" she giggled.

"Ok then my little goddess, we'll do just that." He punctuated the last word by bopping his daughter on the nose. She laughed more. "Theme park it is then! Now then, you tell your mummy to get up so we can go straight away!"

"Get up lazy mummy!" Athena laughed. River mocked looking horrified.

"I am not lazy!" she retorted. "I'll get you for that!" River jumped from the bed and ran after The Doctor who was hurrying away with Athena still in his arms.

"Faster daddy!" she squealed.

River snatched Athena from The Doctor's arms and tickled her until she was in tears laughing and begging for mercy.

A short while later, The Doctor, River and Athena hopped out of the TARDIS and into the theme park. They rode almost all the rides and had rainbow candyfloss from a stall manned by a strange little green alien. Athena kept begging her parents to go on the most famous ride in the park, the spacey zoomer. They made their way towards it before coming to a sign proclaiming

'_private rides, no_ _entry'_

The Doctor sighed loudly. "But the Spacey Zoomer ride is in there!" He whined. He quickly pulled out the sonic and used it on the large padlock keeping the huge, imposing metal gates firmly barred.

"I don't know if we should be in here sweetie." River said quietly, tugging on her husband's arm. The room was dark and the only source of light seemed to be from the open door behind them. Before she could say anything else, The Doctor flipped a light switch on the wall. The whole corridor lit up a brilliant white and The Doctor shrugged with fake modesty and grinned at his wife.

"You're just being silly River!" He said cheerfully. "Everything's perfectly fine! A locked door never stopped you, eh?" He elbowed her playfully.

Suddenly there was a scream from behind them and the sound of cracking electricity that turned River's blood cold. Athena was trapped in a forcefield.

"Mummy! Daddy!" She screamed desperately, throwing herself against the blue, crackling, electric shield that was binding her to one spot. It gave her a severe electric shock on impact. She was in pain but still tried to get through the forcefield, screaming for her mum and dad. River screamed at her daughter to stop, at a loss of what else to do. The Doctor tried to disable it with the sonic but it was deadlocked. That came as no surprise. Athena sat huddled in ball in the middle of her electric prison, her golden curls falling over her face.

River heard more crackling electricity from behind them, she knew that noise, she was scared of it. She didn't know why. She whipped her head around just in time to watch Kovarian and some silence march in through the door. That's why she knew that noise. She was desperate now.

"Leave her alone! Don't touch her!" She screamed at them, keeping herself between Kovarian and the forcefield.

"Oh dear, looks like my little Melody's finally lost tiny one is very cute though isn't she? Little Athena. Another timelord. Maybe she can finish what her dear mother started." Kovarian grinned.

"NO!" River screamed."NO! Please god no!"

Kovarian pressed a button on a device strapped to her wrist and stepped effortlessly through the forcefield. The Doctor stood by, looking grim, keeping the silence in sight and trying to figure out a plan. River threw herself into the forcefield to get to Athena and was electrocuted for her efforts. The Doctor shouted at her to get back and pulled her away, holding her so she wouldn't go near.

"Such a spitting image of her mother." Said Kovarian, stroking Athena's hair gently. "How adorable."

Athena was shaking with fear now, pulling away from Kovarian's unfamiliar touch. The Doctor stiffened, trying to hold back his rage. His wife was now curled up and crying, but still managing to keep the silence in sight.

Kovarian walked from the forcefield, looking smug. She made a subtle hand gesture and the silence instantly began to converge on the couple. River immediately stood up and shakily started to pick off the silence one by one. The Doctor got away for a few moments and ran to Athena's forcefield. He tried to hold back tears as he spoke softly to his daughter, who was as close to the forcefield edge as she could get without hurting herself.

"Athena, I'm going to need you to be very brave. They're going to take you somewhere, I don't know where it is but I promise I'll find they do to you just remember that mummy and I are coming back for you. We should never have come here and it's all my fault. I'm sorry. Just don't let them get to you. We love you. No matter what happens." The Doctor badly wanted to reach out to his daughter, to hug her, to hold her hand but he couldn't.

"Doctor! Help!" River screamed from behind him.

"We'll be back Athena. I promise. Be brave for us, please. I'm so sorry."

The Doctor ran off to help his wife, who was now standing unarmed, her gun lying a few feet away. Silence were converging in on all sides, electricity flicking from their long fingers. The Doctor ran to help her but the silence teleported away at his approach. He looked round in confusion but Kovarian and Athena were already gone.


End file.
